From Baku with love

From Baku with love

Magnum photographer Gueorgui Pinkhassov's images are an ode to the largest city in the Caucasus – but one still unfamiliar to most European travellers

Friday 12 February 2010 11.14 EST

The capital of Azerbaijan, which has a population of more than two million people, and has acted as a body double for places as diverse as Buenos Aires, Tehran and Istanbul on the big screenPhotograph: Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum

In his Baku photographs, Pinkhassov (born in Moscow in 1952 and a collaborator of Andrei Tarkovsky's before moving to Paris in 1985), focuses on how particular kinds of light contribute to the city's distinct atmospherePhotograph: Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum

"Pinkhassov perfectly captures the essence of the city, one with all the delights of the orient and yet an oriental capital with western charm," says Leila Alieva, editor of Baku Magazine, which commissioned the photographs. • The exhibition Baku with Love by Gueorgui Pinkhassov will be shown at
Mall Galleries from Sunday 14 - Friday 19 February, 10am-5pmPhotograph: Gueorgui Pinkhassov/Magnum